Despite hostility from the new Trump administration, electric vehicles will ultimately become a major part of the country’s vehicle fleet, experts and researchers say.

“There are no automakers or suppliers out there who say that any form or fashion electrification will not be part of the future,” said Todd Cassidy, managing director of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, an investment company specializing in the automotive market. “It’s how quickly it’s part of the future and how much it’s part of the future.”

Under President Joe Biden Infrastructure Investment and Employment Law and Inflation reduction methodsbillions have been allocated to encourage consumers to purchase electric vehicles, install charging stations, buy electric vehicles for federal use, and buy electric vehicles for manufacturing and supply chain programs. He also set a non-binding target of half of all new vehicles being electricity by 2030 to help offset US carbon emissions.

However, on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to abolish the Biden administration’s abolishment, which was mislabeled as “electric vehicle mandate,” and instead promoted “consumer choices” about electric vehicles. In the executive order, he also aims to eliminate subsidies, with emissions exemptions in several states, Like California.

Last month, Trump too A $3 billion project has been suspended To expand the network of electric vehicle charging stations. The action resembles the first time he took office, rolling back emission standards set by President Barack Obama.

Trump’s policies are likely to have some impact on how the EV industry continues to develop over the next few years, but the automotive industry has a long “gestation period,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy said that companies that already invest heavily in electric vehicles won’t easily turn their courses back, as products can take years to reach the consumer market from the idea stage. And with or without federal support, automakers are still competing to compete with electric vehicle production around the world.

EV growth in the US

Jim Lampton, a lecturer at the University of Michigan’s Faculty of Information Studies, currently has three main vehicles on the road. The most common are internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles that use gasoline to power them using gasoline or another oil-based fuel. Electric vehicles use rechargeable batteries to move their movements, while hybrid vehicles rely on both battery-powered energy and combustion engines.

Hybrid and battery-powered vehicles accounted for 19% of new vehicle sales by mid-2024, while electric only vehicles accounted for 7% of total new vehicle sales. US Energy Information Agency It has been reported. Electric cars saw far greater sales for luxury cars at 33% of sales and the average price of a battery-powered electric vehicle of $56,371 in the summer of 2024.

Alan Taub, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan and director of the Electric Vehicle Center, said that although EVs have gained commercial popularity over the past decades, they have been following the broader electric vehicle goals.

The automaker began tracking electric vehicles in the early 1900s, but he said neither the batteries or motors available at the time could travel long distances like ice. The introduction and production of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in the 1990s made production of produced vehicles more achievable, and research and development from major automakers has increased over the past decade, Taub said.

“The industry was trying to do that,” Taub said. “These new battery chemistry really provided the ability to package vehicles to deliver what consumers want.”

Taub, a former general motors executive and former researcher at Ford and General Electric, calls the EVS a “better vehicle” and has fewer parts, faster acceleration, a lower center of gravity, and the ability to operate quietly than an ice cart.

It is not only engineering the battery technology that drives the engines, but also the software that runs the car, which drives the car, that makes electric vehicles innovative, Lampton said.

“There are more codes in cars right now than the entire internet,” Lampton said. “And most of the things most electric cars manage are huge computers.”

The Taub team at EV Center has been working with the automotive giant to find holes in the current labor market, with some worried that the move to EV production will result in loss of jobs, but that really only stirs up work skills.

“While battery electric vehicles have fewer moving parts, productivity is always a manufacturing plan as the number of vehicles is expected to grow continuously,” he said.

The workforce is currently a shortage of electricians, Taub said — a problem facing many other parts of the tech industry. However, research, development and manufacturing of EVs has created many jobs, and Taub hopes that Michigan and the US will remain competitive in the global market.

Environmental and economic incentives

It is usually an environmental impact that encourages buyers in electric vehicles. EVs significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere compared to ice cars. Transportation is The biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions In the US

Consumer vehicles are the main emitters of carbon monoxide, so moving to a majority electric vehicle could potentially reduce US emissions by 50%, said Usha Haley, a well-known chair at W. Frank Burton, international business at W. Burton School of Business at Weeta State University.

That doesn’t mean that electric cars will come without other environmental costs, she said. For example, lithium in batteries is difficult my And it’s difficult to dispose of the battery. Electric vehicles move some of their resource stocks into the energy grid rather than the oil supply. But as technology has evolved and more research focuses on batteries, there are “real benefits, concrete benefits” to the environment from owning an EV, Haley said.

Also, competition with the growing demand for electric vehicles will lead manufacturers to make ice cars more fuel efficient. This also helps to reduce pollutants to the air, said Mark James, interim director of the Vermont Law and Graduate Institute of Energy and Environmental Studies.

The environmental impact is clear, but electric vehicles are more expensive to buy than gasoline-powered ones, usually around $10,000 more, James said.

As part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the former president has made tax credits that can be used by new electric vehicle buyers for up to $7,500. It is not clear what will happen with these existing tax credits under the Trump administration, as policy experts have suggested that funds already designated by Congress cannot necessarily be rolled back.

But even so, the state may take their own approach, James said. California set its own emissions standards a few years ago, and many states have followed suit.

Although electric vehicles have higher costs on the frontline, studies show that over time the costs are likely to be very similar to gas-powered vehicles. If the state has the goal of reducing greenhouse gases, James said it can maintain its own financial incentives to move residents to electric vehicles, whether it be taxes or through grant programs.

Industry growth and federal government support

Even if Trump rolls back tax incentives from the Biden era, cuts federal spending on billing locations and removes the ideal minimum for EV production, electric vehicles are here to stay, researchers and industry experts say.

By 2030, Taub predicts that the cost of owning a battery electric vehicle will be equal or inferior to a gas-powered vehicle. He believes that even if Trump takes a handoff approach in the industry, the government still holds some responsibility in the transition to EVs, CO2 reductions and the global race of motor vehicle leaders.

“Can governments move away completely from supporting that transition in the global world? No,” Taub said. “What forms may differ may differ, so it is therefore important that both companies, academia and national research institutes continue to drive research and development.”

Lampton believes the responsibility for building infrastructure for charging will shift to automakers. If the government doesn’t fund installments, he believes we will see more partnerships between auto companies. Ford customers have visited Tesla Chargers 2023.

“I think EVs will definitely stay here. I think they definitely have a very strong future,” Lampton said. “Now there’s more pressure on the automakers than they’ve put in to make that happen.”

Last updated at 11:47am, March 6, 2025